Secret Life
by Dr. Michaela Quinn
Summary: Things are finally getting back to normal after Angela's free running time finding herself... so everybody thinks. Angela wants to be the person her family knows and loves; but she has found who she could be and the person she wants to be for herself. Can she handle this secret life?


Angela walked down the stairs in her long black dress coat. Her long mane was splashed across her shoulders and back. Carefully she looked around the empty living room before she quietly walked towards the door. Just as she went to open the door, Tony walked in through the kitchen.

"Hey Angela, where you goin?" She hung her head with a sigh and then turned to him with a wide, fake smile.

"I just need to go get something from the office. I forgot it when I was there earlier." Tony looked at the clock as she spoke.

"Angela, it's six o'clock at night. What could you possibly need that you can't get tomorrow?"

"It's something I need for my meeting tomorrow. I'm not going straight to the office, I have to look over this file."

"I'm making dinner." He responded pointing towards the door.

"I'll get something before I come home, okay? Just please, let me go."

"Alright." He replied and walked back into the kitchen. Sighing a sigh of relief, she walked out the front door and walked around to the garage behind the house. As she was about to get into her Jaguar, Mona and Jonathan came up in her car.

"Hey Mom."

"Angela, are you leaving for a date?" Mona asked shocked. Angela shook her head several times pasting on that smile again.

"Yes I am. I won't be back until late. So tell Tony he doesn't have to stay up for me," she said.

"Have fun."

"Goodbye Mother. Bye Jonathan." Angela got into her car and headed down the road and away from Connecticut.

* * *

When Jonathan, Mona and Tony sat down for dinner an hour later, Angela was a number one topic of conversation.

"Has Mom been acting strange to you lately?" Jonathan opened up as he put a piece of meat on his plate. Tony shook his head.

"She has been acting funny in the last few weeks. I thought it was her just trying to get back into a normal routine after the time she spent with Mona, but I don't think that's it."

"Hey, it has nothing to do with me," Mona exclaimed defending herself, "Angela has a date. You can't blame anybody for that."

"She has a date?"

"Yeah! I know, I couldn't believe it either." Tony shook his head as if he was trying to grasp what was going on.

"No it's not that. Angela told me that she had to go back to the office and get a file for some meeting she has tomorrow." Then Mona tilted her head to look at him.

"We don't have a meeting tomorrow. We don't have any clients coming in for a few days. Angela and I are preparing for the meeting we have Friday."

"So why would she say she's going to the office?"

"Maybe she didn't want you to say anything about her date, Tony. I mean she knows how you are."

"How I am?" Tony exclaimed. "Just tell me Mona, how am I?"

"Oh don't take offense Tony, I didn't mean anything bad by that. You are just so much like _you_ that maybe she didn't want to tell you what was really going on." He put his fork down.

"I can't even eat until I figure out what's going on." They all walked into the living room and Tony picked up the phone behind the couch. He dialed and held the receiver to his ear. It took several minutes before he looked over at Mona and Jonathan. She shrugged and tried asking him what was wrong. Tony hung up the phone. "No answer. You'd think if she were there she'd pick up."

"Unless she's not really there at all." Mona responded. Jonathan walked over to the door and saw something silver sitting on the table by the door. He picked them up and held the keys in his hands.

"Aren't these the keys to the office Grandma?" Mona rushed over and grabbed them out of Jonathan's hand.

"Aha! I told you she wasn't going to the office. She can't get in without these."

"But I'm not so sure she's on a date either Mona. She hasn't been out with anybody in a long time. She told me a few weeks ago that Peter was getting a little too serious for her." Mona stood there and looked at them.

"Well, if she isn't at the office, and she's not on a date; then where could she be?"

* * *

Standing on stage at the Down Beat, Angela held a microphone in her hand. With the lights so dim she couldn't see anybody around her. She could feel her heart racing, but it was invigorating, she felt something now that she hadn't felt ever in her life. This was one of the first times she could ever let go and be "herself." She didn't need to be responsible and particular all the time; Angela could truly let her hair down. Hearing the music play, she took a deep breath in and smiled….

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me!"

**A/N: It's short but I didn't really know how to start it. **


End file.
